1. Field of the Present Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of computer graphics and more particularly to rendering thick primitives such as lines in an efficient manner.
2. History of Related Art
Graphics display subsystems are almost universally encountered in microprocessor based computer systems to facilitate a variety of graphics tasks and applications. Graphics processors, graphics adapters, and a variety of similarly designed computer products provide specialized hardware to speed the execution of graphics instructions and rendering of graphic images. These processors and adapters typically include, for example, circuitry optimized for translating, rotating, and scaling graphic images. In a typical application, a graphical image that is displayed on a display terminal or other output device is composed of one or more graphic primitives. For purposes of this disclosure, a graphic primitive may be thought of as one or more points, lines, or polygons that are associated with one another, such as by being connected to one another. Typically, the displayed image is generated by creating one or more graphic primitives, assigning various attributes to the graphic primitives, defining a viewing point and a viewing field, determining which of the graphic primitives are within the defined viewing field, and rendering those graphic primitives as they would appear from the viewing point. This process can require a tremendous amount of computing power to keep pace with increasingly complex and commercially available graphics applications. Accordingly, designers of graphics systems and graphics applications are continuously seeking cost effective means for improving the efficiency at which graphic images are rendered and displayed.